The Intern
by NewClassic100
Summary: Hermione is completely unhappy with her new job at the Ministry. To make it even worse, Draco Malfoy is her new intern. Somehow they both end up on an exotic island, unable to leave and a curse to break...
1. The Intern

**CHAPTER 1**

 **(A/N: Hello again! A new fanfic and a completely new genre for me as well, so hopefully this is going to be an exciting ride. If you would be so kind to leave a review, that'd be nice** **)**

"Stella, I told you to give me a call when the new documents arrived!" she said, pointing at the stack of papers on the desk of her new secretary.

"I'm sorry Ms. Granger, I just don't know how these weird Muggle communication machines work! I type in the numbers but when I put the thing next to my ear I can't hear anything!" she apologized and showed Hermione the contraption.

"That's because you have to plug it in." Hermione said, finding the plug itself.

"Plug?" Stella sputtered.

"For God's sake." Hermione muttered and bent over to find a plug under Stella's desk.

On her hands and knees, she was fumbling around in the dark, casting a quick _Lumos._ Trying not to get electrocuted, she put her hands against the wall to find the damned thing and finally grasped it.

"Nice skirt, Granger." ,someone drawled behind her.

She bumped her head against the desk and rubbed the back of her head. She slowly crawled back from under the desk, completely humiliated, and stood up to face the man.

Draco Malfoy.

 _Could this day get any worse?_

"Malfoy. If you're here for a hearing, that's downstairs. I'm sure you know that by now?"

Malfoy didn't even flinch, didn't even look taken aback. His devilish grin just widened more.

"Funny, Granger. No, I'm not here for a hearing. I'm actually looking for a lady called Ms. Grey. Is she in this department?" he asked as he looked around the building.

"That's me!" Stella squealed and she pushed herself forward to him.

Hermione stopped her and stepped in front of her, glaring at Malfoy and trying to look through his cocky grin.

"Before you run off with my secretary, what is that you actually want with her?" she hissed.

Malfoy just laughed more.

"Calm down Granger. I'm looking for Ms. Grey because she would give me a tour of the department. I'm the new intern."

Hermione's eyes widened. Weeks ago, she received a letter from the Cursebreaker department, asking if she'd accept a student to do an internship at her place because they had a problem with housing everyone. Hermione had accepted, it wasn't like she had anything better to do.

When she applied for the job as Curse-expert, she'd expected a full adventure. Helping Aurors, going on adventures and traveling to foreign countries. Unfortunately, the opposite was true. Okay, she was head of the department. But that's the only thing good about the job. Instead of going on dangerous adventures, she was sitting behind a desk sorting out papers. Her job was to find islands or places Voldemort left with a curse or hex and then she has to break it. The problem was, the moment she found such a place, the Aurors were on her back and found it in 0.1 seconds. All she did was find the places on a map, but she never went to them.

She begged the Aurors to take her with them, but they'd always shake their head no. She wasn't an Auror.

"I-Intern?" she stammered and gave a furious look at Stella, who was now getting red in the face and looking down.

"Yes, Granger. Intern. You know what that means, don't you? I'll be here for the next couple of months, following you around and learning all the shit you do, watching you solve the shit-"

"That's quite enough swear words for today, Malfoy. If I could have a word with you Stella?" she said as she turned her attention to the blushing young girl.

Stella nodded and Hermione grabbed her arm, making sure they couldn't be overheard by Malfoy.

"Why didn't you tell me the intern was coming today? And why didn't you tell me it was Draco fucking Malfoy?!" she hissed, trying to whisper.

"I thought I told you! I dialed your number on the phone-thing and left a message."

"Stella, it's your job to listen to messages that are sent to me by phone."

"Right."

"Okay, doesn't matter. It's not like we ever have a busy day at the office. But did you know it was Malfoy?" she questioned.

"No! But he's handsome isn't he?" Stella gushed and turned around as she twirled her hair and smiled at him. Hermione grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Stop that! He's not handsome and he certainly isn't someone to have a crush on! Haven't you heard of his reputation with women?"

Stella looked back over her shoulder again and just sighed.

"Can I trust you to give him a tour of the department?" Hermione asked sternly and Stella nodded. "Give him a tour, leave him in the cafeteria and make sure he doesn't look into important documents. Can you do that?"

"Yes, Ms. Granger."

Stella swiftly turned around and introduced herself. She quickly asked him to go with her and within the minute they were out of the door.

Hermione sighed as the door closed and turned back around to her own room.

At least she could say it was not another boring day at the office.

* * *

While twirling the quill in her hand, she was watching the clock ticking by. The hands moving every second, but she felt like time was standing still.

Hermione was woken up from her trance by a knock on her door. She quickly ruffled her hair, straightened her skirt and opened the door of her office.

Draco Malfoy barged in with a pair of documents in his hand.

"Granger, Voldemort has never set foot in the Canada, so you won't find any curses or hexes there to break." he said as he threw the documents in the trash.

"H-How..?" she sputtered.

"For the Department of Defence, the defenses on your works are rubbish."

Hermione sighed and went to sit behind her desk again. She threw her head on her arms and started to groan.

"I worked on that Canada case for 4 weeks." she sighed and set fire to the trashcan, leaving only dust in the bin.

"May I ask a question, Granger?" he said after a minute of silence.

"No."

"Why are you even doing this job? I thought you, Scarface and Weasel would be Aurors and the three of you would save the world from bad guys every other day."

Hermione sighed and rubbed her forehead. _That was the plan._

"Well, Ron decided he was tired of fighting and joined a Quidditch team instead. Harry _really_ had a reason to be tired of fighting and is now a DADA teacher. And well, I'm here."

"But why?" Malfoy said, taking a seat in front of her desk and putting his feet on the table.

"Why are you here?" she asked, not wanting to answer his questions anymore.

"I'm good with goblins." he grinned, "And because brother-Weasel sent me here."

Despite the situation, Hermione started to chuckle.

"You work with Bill Weasley? Must be hard, isn't it? Working with blood traitors."

Malfoy's grin disappeared and he stood up from his chair, leaning with his hands on her desk, looking her right in the eye.

"You can take that back, Granger. Since the war I haven't used those words anymore." he said seriously.

"Oh fuck off." she huffed, "Maybe not in public, but I'm sure when you come home in that gigantic manor of yours, you call everyone Mudbloods, blood traitors, and what-not!" she stood up herself now as well.

"Aren't you supposed to be the brightest witch of your age? When is it going to sink in that the war has been over for 3 years now and that people have changed?" he started to raise his voice now.

"Because people don't fucking change, Malfoy! I'm still with my head in the books, looking up information for battles that I'm eventually not going to fight anyway. I know that I've said other things before, during and after the war, but that was naïve. Nobody changed, period."

Malfoy was silent for a minute, taking in the things she said. Somebody had changed, it was her.

"If you're tired of not fighting any battles, then why don't you?"

"Every time I find something, the Aurors take it over and break the hex themselves. It's still delicate because they feel like they are still fighting Voldemort."

Hermione sighed and sat down again, ruffling through her papers, finding the page she was working on at the moment.

She looked up at Malfoy, "You may go."

"No. It's time you fight your battles."

He snatched the paper from her, scanning it quickly.

"Malfoy, what are you-"

"Do you know what is wrong with this particular island?" he asked.

"No, I received it yesterday. I haven't really worked out the details yet, but-"

"Then it's time to figure that out." he grinned, put the paper in his pocket and grabbed her arm.

"Malfoy, STOP!"

But it was too late. They had Disapparated.


	2. Fairy Island

**CHAPTER 2: Fairy island**

 **(A/N: Yay another chapter! I'm thinking about maybe changing the title as I realised it's not really relevant to the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please follow/review/whatever. Thanks!)**

With a thump, they landed on the soft sand underneath them. As Hermione looked around, it seemed like the island was created right under her eyes. Grass was getting higher, more palm trees were added and within 5 seconds, there was a jungle in front of her.

"What the-" Malfoy muttered.

"We should have never gone here in the first place," Hermione grumbled, "we don't even know what this island is! We don't have any books or research-"

"I thought you were done sitting behind books Granger. Live a little."

Hermione sighed. _I should've never agreed to have an intern._

She felt her high heels digging in the sand and cursed. Due to the hot temperatures, she also felt the light blouse clinging to her back with sweat and her skirt getting more uncomfortable with the minute. Hermione quickly changed her outfit to a dark green croptop, shorts and sneakers.

"Nice, Granger." he drawled.

"Oh shut up."

"I suggest we get into the forest, see what's going on with it, then head back to the office, find the right counter-jinxes and such and then get back here." Malfoy suggested.

"What about the Aurors?"

"They don't need to know." Malfoy grinned.

"But what if something goes wrong?"

Hermione could already see the disappointed face of Kingsley Shacklebolt in front of her, asking her to grab her stuff and leave the office.

"Have a little faith in me, Granger." he said as he started walking to the edge of the forest.

Hermione quickly ran to him, grabbing his arm.

"Are you mad? You don't know what kind of weird creatures live in that forest! I suggest we walk around the edge first and then get in."

Malfoy sighed.

"You don't find anything on the edge!"

"You'll be killed in 10 seconds if you go into the jungle right now!"

They haven't even been on the island for 15 minutes and they were already bickering. It was a disaster. Hermione was already hoping on returning to her safe office life. No Draco Malfoy, no dangerous creatures, no hot sun making her have a headache.

Her thoughts made her wake up from a certain trance somehow.

This is what she wanted right? She wanted adventure, no boring office life and seeing everyone do her job. No, she would not turn back until they found the problem of the island. Malfoy, sadly, was right. You don't find anything on the edge.

"Granger, are you even listening to me?" she heard his voice saying in the distance.

"Hm?"

"You're only playing safe if you stay on the edge. You won't find the problem here." he said sternly.

"I know. Let's go." Hermione said and she started walking into the jungle.

* * *

Malfoy stood there flabbergasted. "Women." he muttered under his breath and followed her.

After 30 minutes of walking, Hermione and Malfoy sat down on a big rock exhausted from the heat.

"We need a source of water. We have to stay dehydrated with this warmth." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"I know Granger, I'll look." Malfoy said and got up. He was sure he'd seen a spring somewhere. He walked down the road where they came from and then turned to his right, hearing a waterfall. Grabbing two big leaves to carry the water for him and Hermione, he followed the thunderous sound.

When he arrived, there was an open space with huge rocks scattered around the river. He filled the leaves and turned around to the direction where he came from. Watching the water in his hands carefully, he almost tripped over a sign.

The water spilled over the sand and Draco cursed and turned around, wanting to know what almost caused him to fall.

 **FAEIE IXLAN**

"Fairy island." a voice said behind him.

He let the leaves drop and immediately pointed his wand to the person behind him.

"It's only me." Hermione laughed at his shocked expression.

Malfoy sighed and let his wand drop back in his pocket again. "How did you get here?"

"I heard the waterfall from where I sat and thought you must be there. It seems like this waterfall is in the middle of the island." she observed, looking up at the cascading waters.

"How can you read the sign?"

"I thought everyone in Hogwarts could read, Malfoy." she laughed.

Malfoy, confused, turned around at the sign again.

 **FAIRY ISLAND**

Must be the heat, he thought as he shook his head.

Suddenly they felt droplets coming down on them and looked up. Dark clouds had come above them and it started to pour harder. Malfoy quickly picked up the leaves and let it fill with the rainwater.

"Come on! We need to find shelter before it starts to thunder!" Hermione yelled and grabbed the leaf from him, downing the water.

They ran to an opening in the rocks nearby and had to crouch down to stand.

"Malfoy, you being the pure-blooded wizard you are, have you ever heard of Fairy Island?" she asked uncertainly.

Ever since she saw the sign she had been thinking about the name. Hermione was certain they had never talked about it during History of Magic, never read it in books and never before encountered the name during work.

"No but it does sound bloody sappy, doesn't it?" he said annoyed.

Hermione chuckled at it.

"Have you still got the documents of the island?" she asked, completely forgetting they still had it.

"Yeah, in my- Fuck!"

"What?"

"It's in my bag. I left it with you when I was getting us water. You didn't bring it with you, did you?"

Hermione blushed and Malfoy knew enough. "Sweet Salazar." he muttered.

At that time the raining had stopped and the sky was clear again. They came out of their little cave and looked around, but nothing had changed because of the rain.

"Let's find your bag and see what's left of it." Hermione offered and Malfoy just nodded.

Together they walked to the place where they had come to rest. The bag was still on the same rock, dripping with rain water.

Malfoy opened the bag and pulled out the documents with a wet slap. All the ink had been ruined and the paper was simply unreadable.

"Let's just go back to the office and find everything there is to know about Fairy Island." Hermione offered.

Malfoy sighed. "I think that's all we can do right now."

Fairly quickly they were at the edge of the jungle again where they had appeared.

"Ready to go back to the office, Granger?" Malfoy grinned.

"I believe a thank you is in order, Malfoy. You saved me from yet again a boring day at the office. And I must say, we make a fairly good team."

"Just try to not forget my bag next time Granger."

Hermione meant what she said, though. Above all expectations, she and Malfoy good work together very well. No surprise, of course, he was always behind her in their year. Now he had shown her what her job really could be and she was especially grateful for that.

Malfoy grabbed her arm and Hermione prepared herself to side Apparate.

Hermione closed her eyes but nothing happened.

"Malfoy? Is something-"

"I can't bloody apparate!"

"What do you mean you can't apparate? You apparated us here, didn't you?"

"I did, but now it seems I can't leave!" he sneered. "You try."

Hermione closed her eyes and thought of the place she wanted to land, her office. But she didn't move and neither did Malfoy. They stood there like two idiots.

"Me neither."

"Then I think I know what the curse of this island is."

"Bloody Hell!" Malfoy screamed and Hermione looked at him helplessly.

"Malfoy, I think it's not the island, it's something to do with our brain. For some reason I can't conjure up the actual image of the office. Only the word office itself." she said uncertainly.

Malfoy nodded at her in confirmation.

Just when Hermione wanted to grab her wand, she heard people move behind her. They both turned around swiftly and were met with two medieval looking knights.

"The King and Queen of Fairyland have noticed your presence on this island and would like to welcome you in the palace today at noon."

"Excuse me?" Hermione said, utterly flabbergasted.

"Well, you are Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy right?" one knight asked them, looking at his paper.

"Yes?"

"From the prophesy."

"Prophesy?" both Draco and Hermione exclaimed and looked at each other.

They were in a hell lot of trouble.


	3. The Banquet

**(a/n: Nope! This fic is not abandoned! I just had a fierce writers' block. This isn't my best chapter but I needed something to start this story up again. I hope you like it!)**

 **3\. THE BANQUET**

"I- I don't understand." Hermione sputtered at the two knights in front of them.

The knights smiled a friendly smile at them, "The King and Queen will explain it all to you at the dinner. For now, take this horse," another knight appeared out of the jungle with a beautiful stallion, "and get ready for your meeting with our royals."

Draco took the horse from the knight and stroked its forehead.

The knights bowed their heads and left again, back into the jungle.

"Wait! How do we know where to go?" Hermione quickly shouted at them.

"He knows." The knight pointed at the stallion and disappeared into the trees.

It took a moment before they both had realised what just happened. The only sound that you could hear was the crashing of the waves and the whinnying of the horse.

"Well, Granger, you heard him. Let's dress up a bit." Draco grinned as he was still stroking the horse.

"Wait, so we're actually doing this? You don't want to - I don't know- find a way home?!"

Draco rolled his eyes as he turned around and focused his attention on Hermione.

"Don't you get it? This could be our way home, maybe this prophecy is part of the curse and if we break it and do as they say we can get off this bloody island."

Hermione bit her lip in thought. This could go horribly wrong, but she knew Malfoy was right. Standing here by the edge of the sea, trying to conjure an image of the office certainly wasn't an option anymore.

"Okay, let's do it then." she sighed and Malfoy nodded approvingly.

"But seriously, Granger. You can't show up to a castle looking like a crazy buffalo."

Hermione quickly looked down at her clothes that were now covered in sweat and dirt. _Did I look like this all day?_

She looked up to give him a nasty scowl for calling her a buffalo- _of all things!_ \- but was met with an image she had never dared to dream about.

Malfoy stood there shirtless. Hermione's eyes widened at the sight. She always thought he still had that skinny body under his clothes, but apparently not anymore.

Hermione was getting redder in the face and she knew it wasn't from the heat of the island.

A bump to her shoulder shook her out of the trance. It was the horse.

"Hi there." she said to him and conjured up a sugar cube for him to eat while petting his head she had seen Malfoy do before.

After giving the horse enough attention she looked down at her own clothes again and sighed. She really wasn't good at dressing up, especially now with the pressure that she had to do everything she could to impress the royals. The last time she properly dressed up was for the Yule Ball 6 years ago and she had the help of magical hair products.

Hermione sighed as she took a strand of her hair and twirled it around her finger. It'll have to do.

She cupped her hands together to get some salt water from the sea in her hands and sprinkled some of it into her hair, to make it less frizzy and wavier.

After she conjured an evening gown she took a last glimpse of her in the water for a final check.

"I'm ready to go Malfoy, are you?" she said as she turned around.

This time it was Malfoy staring at her. He didn't even take his gaze away when she saw him staring. He blinked for a couple of times and then quickly changed into dress robes himself.

Hermione sheepishly smiled at him and brushed her hands over her dress.

There was a silence where they just looked at each other.

"Well… Let's go to the palace I guess. We don't know how long the ride will be."

Draco nodded and led the horse close to Hermione.

"Up you go," Malfoy said and he grabbed her by the waist to put her on the horse sideways.

Malfoy got on the horse behind her and pulled her close to him. He moved his arms around her and grabbed the reins and made the horse turn towards the jungle.

"Ready, Granger?"

"You know how to do this right?" she asked him.

"Granger, please. I'm a spoiled brat who grew up in Malfoy Manor with pureblood wizards as parents. Of course, I know how to do this."

Hermione actually chuckled at this. The Malfoy she grew up with would never make jokes about his heritage. Maybe he's changed after all.

* * *

After 15 minutes of horseback riding, Hermione noticed a couple of things on the way to the royal palace.

One, Malfoy was indeed exceptionally good at horseback riding;

Two, Hermione was exceptionally bad at staying put on the horse;

And three, everything on the island seemed to change when you got a closer look at it.

Mountains grew higher when you neared them, trees grew bushier when you passed them and their cave by the waterfall seemed to have disappeared.

She decided not to mention any of this to Malfoy, afraid it was just her own imagination playing games with her.

In the distance, she was able to see the first palace tower and she smiled widely. The palace was very beautiful with white walls and a red rooftop.

It was only a 5-minute ride to the gates of the palace and Draco dismounted the horse, helping Hermione off of it afterwards.

The gates were opened by knights, who were wearing the same uniform as the knights they had encountered earlier.

Malfoy nodded as a greeting and together they walked towards the palace door.

"Welcome, welcome!" a voice said next to them and they turned their heads.

A maid with luscious blonde hair was walking towards them with a great smile on her face and holding up her skirt so she wouldn't trip on it. Hermione thought she looked awfully familiar like someone she knew until it dawned on her.

"Stella? What the bloody hell are you doing here? How did you get here?" Hermione hissed at her.

The maid looked confused at her.

"Have we met before?" she asked after she curtsied in front of us.

"Stop playing games, Stella. Tell me how you got here and how you got into this palace," she said as she grabbed her arm to pull her closer.

"Well, my father didn't have any money to feed our family so he said I should apply for a job as the Queens' maid and that is how I got here. My name is Marcella," she said politely.

Hermione didn't even know Malfoy was behind her until he grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back to him.

"She isn't Stella, Granger. I don't know what is going on right now, but we should go with it. We will figure it out later." he whispered in her ear.

Hermione nodded at him but didn't feel okay. There was something seriously wrong and they couldn't do anything about it right now.

"I will take your horse and bring it to the stalls for you. If you go in the direction of those doors you will be welcomed by the King and Queen at the banquet." Marcella smiled at them and curtsied again when she left.

Hermione sighed as she and Malfoy walked towards the doors.

 _How was he so calm?_

She felt like she was the only one panicking every time something happened on this weird island. He acted like it would all be figured out soon and they'd be off this island by tomorrow. Maybe that was the reason he was a Curse Breaker in the field and she was not…

Hermione had to prove that in fact _he_ was the intern and she wasn't. She is head of her own department for Merlin's sake!

With her head held up a little higher, they walked inside and were greeted by the Queen and King immediately.

There was only one fitting word to describe them; beautiful.

The Queen had honey-coloured hair, green eyes and full plump lips. She couldn't be younger than 40, but she still looked so full of life.

The King had dark brown hair, stern dark eyes and had a strong built.

"Welcome Mrs and Mr Malfoy." the queen smiled at them as Hermione curtsied and Malfoy gave a bow.

"Oh we're not-" Hermione stuttered.

"I know." The queen giggled.

'Let's sit down at the table, shall we." The king suggested.

They all nodded and Malfoy took Hermione's hand to guide her to the banquet.

"We can't hate each other in front of royalty, Granger. So suck it up." he grinned at her and she actually grinned back at him.

They all sat down and there was an uncomfortable silence as the servants all poured them a drink.

"So, we actually expected only one person to come to our beautiful island but now that you're with two it'll be much easier to complete the quest I assume." the king said to them.

"What quest?" Draco asked, looking quite panicked now.

"Don't you know why you are here?" the queen asked at them as she saw Draco's face.

"Not exactly." Hermione mumbled.

"You're here to save my daughter, the princess of Fairyland."


	4. Making Plans

**4\. MAKING PLANS**

 **(A/N: Hi guys! I'm trying to write faster and more now. I really like reviews and I hope you keep them up**!)

Hermione and Malfoy looked at each other in amazement. _A rescue mission? Was that the curse?_

"What do you mean?" Malfoy asked the king.

"You see, our daughter is trapped in a high tower by an evil witch, with a dragon as a guard. Several princes and knights have tried to slay the dragon, but all have failed."

Draco raised his eyebrows, as he had never heard such a story, but Hermione was deep in thought. This could be a classic fairy-tale in the Muggle world. Dragons, princesses, evil witches. The perfect ingredients for a children's story. But how did they end up here?

"And was a curse cast over this land by the evil witch?" Hermione asked them.

The king and queen looked at each other but shrugged their shoulders. "Not as far as we know of."

Hermione nodded, but this only confused her more. She and Malfoy were trapped by a curse on this island but the civilians and king and queen were not, apparently.

"But as you obviously heard from our knights, there was a prophecy about you," the queen said and she looked at Malfoy, "that a boy from another realm would slay the dragon, fight the witch and bring us our daughter back."

"I thought the prophecy was about the two of us," Hermione said, quite annoyed.

"Well, we see no harm done in you going along on the quest. And your name popped up on this as well." the king said as he pointed towards a big board called "Population".

The board maybe had 100 people on it and at the end of the list, she saw both their names fixed with gold print.

"But the actual prophecy was just about one boy?" Malfoy asked, "How do you know that it's supposed to be me? Aren't there any other visitors from other realms?"

"You two are the only visitors we've ever had." the queen smiled, "Which brings me to the lovely dinner standing before us. I bet you must be really hungry after your journey."

This put an end to the conversation they were having and they started to eat as well, forgetting how long ago they'd had eaten.

After an hour or so the king excused himself from the dinner to do some "business" as he called it himself. This was a sign for them to be excused as well and the queen told them they would be having their own chambers in the palace before they would rescue the princess.

The maid who looked like Stella appeared again and happily guided them through the confusing palace walls.

"This will be Ms Granger's room. The bathroom is over there and clothes will be provided by the closet in the corner." she smiled at her. Hermione nodded gratefully back.

"Now, Mr Malfoy if you'd follow me, then I can show you your room."

As the maid turned her back on Hermione, Malfoy and her eyes locked. Even though they were in a beautiful palace surrounded by riches, they were here because of a reason. Something was wrong with this island and they really shouldn't be separated at this stage, how beautiful the distraction may be.

 _Come back for me, we need to talk_ , her eyes seemed to say and she tried to bore it into Malfoy's mind.

He seemed to understand, though and gave the slightest nod.

As they both walked off she turned to her own room and left the door slightly ajar. She was afraid of what would happen if she actually closed her door.

She grabbed a long negligee from the huge closet and when she looked into the mirror she almost laughed at herself. She hadn't looked this angelic since her first time with Ron. At that thought, she quickly left the mirror and sat on the bed, waiting for Malfoy to come.

The worry started when he didn't return after an hour and a half. Hermione didn't know what would happen if she would look for him herself and she was sure she would get lost.

After half an hour her door started to squeak and Malfoy carefully slipped into her room.

Hermione couldn't help but snort at the image of his attire.

He was dressed in a rich coloured red bathrobe with gold slippers under his white satin pyjama pants. But Hermione laughed the hardest at his hair all being fluffed and standing up.

"What happened to you?" she chuckled.

"Well, apparently my servants want me to look as royally as possible." he sighed.

"Servants? You have servants?"

"Well as their future prince they want me to have the best treatment, of course." he chuckled at what he said, but his face quickly turned into worry. "We have to leave here as soon as possible, Granger. They'll want me as their future son-in-law if we rescue their princess."

Hermione was stunned by this, but couldn't say she didn't expect it. That was normally the ending of a Muggle fairy-tale; the princess marrying her dashing prince who rescued her and living happily ever after.

"I have to tell you something, Malfoy. I think we sort of landed in a story." Hermione slowly started.

"What do you mean story? So we're not on planet Earth anymore but in a book? Bloody fantastic." he already started grumbling.

"No no no, that's not it. Though I don't know for sure if we're actually IN a book right now, but the king and queen's story about their princess sounded familiar to me. It's the kind of story that's read to Muggles a lot. A princess locked in a tower and being saved by a handsome prince." she explained.

"Oh so you think I'm handsome?" he grinned at her.

"Focus on what I said!" Hermione blushed, but Malfoy still grinned at her.

"Maybe the curse is just finishing the story, that's what I'm trying to say." she said.

"So I'll have to marry the princess?" he wrinkled his face in disgust.

"No, we'll escape before that will happen," Hermione said quickly.

"Aha! I knew you'd be jealous!"

"Malfoy!" she sputtered and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"All I'm saying is that we need to figure out how to save the princess and then plan our escape, before you get married," this earned her a smirk from Malfoy again and she rolled her eyes, "I have a feeling they'll not keep you out of their sight if you're their prince."

"And you'll get jealous if I do get married so, great plan." Malfoy grinned and Hermione just huffed at him, knowing she'd never win this little argument.

And what he was saying, it wasn't exactly wrong…

The idea of him in front of an altar with a beautiful princess bride made her sick and not because she couldn't stand the idea of Malfoy in a wedding suit. On the contrary.

"So, Granger, what usually happens in these stories you Muggles read?" he asked her, now being more serious and he sat on her bed trying to find some paper and a quill to jot it all down.

"Well, the princess was probably kidnapped by the evil witch because she probably wants to rule over the kingdom. I suspect the princess is now hidden in some high tower with a dragon flying rounds around it," she explained as she sat next to him.

"And how are the witch and dragon mostly being slain?"

"Well the dragon is almost always killed with a sword, but I don't know about the witch. She disappears sometimes or vanishes and never returns. But she gets killed sometimes too."

"Do you think the witch could be from our world? Voldemort made this curse after all." Malfoy asked her and more worry spread over Hermione.

The thought that maybe a copy of someone they knew from the wizarding world would appear as the evil witch made her sick. Bellatrix Lestrange, Pansy Parkinson, or even their friends could be their enemy in this world. The image of Ginny Weasley dressed in evil witches' clothes crossed her mind and she quickly closed her eyes to make it disappear.

"I don't know. Maybe we could ask the king and queen tomorrow what the witch looks like. Maybe if we know who it is we can figure out their weaknesses." Hermione said thoughtfully.

Right at that moment, the Stella-lookalike maid came into Hermione's room. Malfoy jumped from the bed as if it was 100 degrees.

"Mr Malfoy?! I thought I sent you to your chambers? You're not supposed to be in here, it could harm your reputation as your future prince!" she said angrily.

The bubbly Stella they knew from the office was nowhere to be found in this copy of her. Hermione didn't even know she could look as angry as that.

They were really planning on Draco marrying the princess, then.

Malfoy hurriedly said his goodbye to Hermione and promised he would visit her in the morning to make plans for the rescue of the princess. This seemed to make "Stella" happy again and she enthusiastically closed the door.

As Hermione got under the covers she thought about Malfoy's words again.

" _Voldemort made this curse after all."_

This curse was nothing like the curses she inspected at her Department. They often involved death-like situations, giant monsters, or like places where Horcruxes could be found.

But this was a whole new situation and the fact that it resembles a Muggle story so much was a strange factor in all this. Voldemort couldn't have possibly made this curse, or could he?

The only things they knew about this curse was that they couldn't leave the island and the person who was cursed have to fulfil the prophecy of saving the princess. The prophecy was for a boy and a boy only.

One name shot through her head.

Harry Potter.

Now it made sense to her. The king and queen expected only a boy, which would be Harry but they didn't know a name because that would, of course, raise suspicion if Harry had ever come here. The fact that he would have to save someone only completed her theory. Harry Potter always saves the day and that was ultimately his weakness as well. He can't stand the idea of not saving someone.

A lot of the islands and curses she did research on were meant for the civilians of the wizarding world, not for Harry Potter himself, as Voldemort wanted to kill Harry personally.

Shots of excitement filled her belly as she figured out on her own what was wrong and she couldn't wait to tell Malfoy.

But she knew the door was locked now and when she tried to open it her thoughts were confirmed. She'd have to wait till tomorrow morning then.

* * *

The sun shone through her window and she knew it was time to wake up. She remembered her exciting news and hurriedly opened her door to the dining room for breakfast. Hoping the king and queen wouldn't attend it at this early hour.

Before she walked down the stairs she threw on a bathrobe and practically flew to her breakfast.

"Could you maybe wake Mr Malfoy? I have some news and ideas for our mission," she said to a maid who presented her with some toast.

"Don't you know? Mr Malfoy left at midnight to go save the princess. Said he couldn't wait to meet her." the maid shrugged and left Hermione to eat.

The toast fell out of her hand and she knew she had to go after him.


End file.
